Austal Australia and Civmec have executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture (JV) to submit a proposal to the Australian government to support the LAND8710 Phase 2, Landing Craft Heavy (LC-H) project. LAND8710 Phase 2 (LC-H) will deliver enhanced transport and littoral manoeuvre capability to the Australian Army to enable greater capacity and reach over the Indo-Pacific region.
Under the MOU, Austal and Civmec will develop the structure, delivery process, and detailed scope of the JV in preparation to submit tenders to the government for LAND8710 Phase 2 (LC-H). It is intended for the JV to contract directly to the government to undertake shipbuilding tasks for the LC-H project within the assembly hall at Civmec’s facility in Henderson, Western Australia.
The Australian government plans to acquire eight LC-H vessels of 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes each and 18 smaller landing craft medium (LC-M) vessels of 500 tonnes each. The government recently approved the first stage of the project to build 18 LC-Ms at Austal using a design by local engineering company Birdon.
